COVID-19: 16 new infections, 65 recoveries

Health Protection Agency (HPA), on Saturday, announced 16 additional cases of the new coronavirus, increasing confirmed coronavirus cases in Maldives to 13,159.

According to HPA, the 16 new cases include; nine cases from the greater Male’ region, five cases from residential islands outside Male’, and two cases from operational resorts.

Meanwhile, 65 additional coronavirus patients were confirmed to have made full recoveries over the last 24 hours, increasing total recoveries to 12,264.

With the new developments, Maldives now has 841 active cases.

There are 79 patients in hospitals.

253,946 samples (including repeated samples) have been tested for the new coronavirus to date.

With the 16 new infections this Saturday, 212 people have tested positive over the last one-week period.

December 5: 16 cases

December 4: 37 cases

December 3: 36 cases

December 2: 21 cases

December 1: 38 cases

November 30: 17 cases

November 29: 47 cases

Maldives identified its first coronavirus case on March 7, and declared a state of public health emergency over the pandemic less than a week later on March 12.

While coronavirus cases had initially been restricted to resorts and safaris, and later quarantine facilities holding inbound travelers, Male’ City identified its first coronavirus case on April 15, prompting a city-wide lockdown.

The populous capital quickly emerged as the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Maldives, contributing to the majority of total cases.

8,275 people - making for 62 percent of the 13,159 coronavirus cases in the country are Maldivians, while the remaining 38 percent are foreign nationals.

47 coronavirus patients have died from complications.